Feds Raid Pennsylvania Home Of 'Machine Gun Preacher'

Federal agents last week raided the Pennsylvania home and office of an international charity worker known as the "Machine Gun Preacher."

The Johnstown, Pa.-based WJAC reported on Friday that Sam Childers is now the target of a federal investigation. Agents with both the FBI and the IRS reportedly raided Childers' home, business, and donation warehouse in Somerset County, Pa., and took computers away with them when they left.

Childers is the founder of Angels of East Africa, established in 1998 to "provide a better future for orphaned children of war in southern Sudan," according to the organization's website. According to his official biography, Childers' worked as an "armed guard for drug dealers" before turning to religion and ultimately traveling to Sudan. He was portrayed on the big screen by Gerard Butler in the 2011 film "Machine Gun Preacher." In 2013, Childers was the recipient of a Mother Theresa Award.

While he was out of the country when the raids occurred, Childers told WJAC in a phone interview that the investigation has been spurred by his former son-in-law, a man who Childers said has stolen thousands of dollars from Angels of East Africa in the past.

"This guy is in a lot of problems so what he's been doing is he's been telling the FBI that I'm smuggling guns and that I'm misusing funds," Childers said. "To start with, it's all lies and I'm telling everyone we've got nothing to hide."

According to Childers, the federal agents "destroyed" boxes of clothing that were to be sent to orphans.

"They went into a container that was packed and ready to come to the orphanage and totally destroyed it," he told WJAC. "I mean, destroyed it, and what's so sad is that it was all children’s clothes."